The importance of empowering children
hi
my name is katia hujak i’m 14 years old
i live in near rotsworth in poland
i’m here because i would like to tell
you about
polish children’s academy and how we’re
breaking
boundaries but first i would like to ask
you when you hear the words children’s
academy what comes to your mind
is that science is not for kids
or maybe university is only for adults
in my mind
is science is for kids
and university isn’t only for adults
what’s the product polish children’s
academy it was created in 2009
by agata hofmann it’s a non-profit
project and the goal of this project is
to
has as many kids as it is possible
to take part in it and learn from each
other
it’s organized at many universities in
poland
and even abroad because for example in
ireland
or netherlands here
you can see photo of me and i’m
six on this photo this was my first
lecture
our young students and our young experts
are from age six to twelve
we have a little differently view for
education
for example children are given small
gifts
not for answers like in polish schools
but
for questions i think questions
are the most important in science kids
are
learning from kids in my opinion
sometimes
it’s just easier to learn something from
your peer
than your teacher we learn throughout
our
entire lives adults can learn from kids
too
here you can see me as volunteer
and i’m holding a microphone because our
young student
wants to ask questions and on the other
photo
you can see how children are happy when
they are able to ask
questions
so what does this event looks like first
our young students
are walking into the university i think
it’s a big thing for them
because when we hear the word university
often it’s connected with adults other
students
professors but i think university
is a place for kids too
young expert has a lecture about his
passions his
hobby is always very interesting
then questions our young students
are able to ask questions we know the
importance of movement
so after the questions to our young
expert
is dance break
then lecture of our adult expert
it’s only on the same topic as lecture
of our young expert
questions there are always lots of them
too
we celebrate the end of this events with
pizza
you can see here our young students as
pirates eating some pizza
and here is dance break look how much
energy is in it polish children’s
international scientific conference it’s
once a year over 600 children
come from all over poland to take
part in this one day conference
during the main event is a lecture of
young expert
then our adult expert has a lecture
our adult expert is always from abroad
we’ve hosted educators
experts such as workers from nasa
educators from unesco or arizona
after the main event children are
divided into smaller groups
and they have another lectures with
another young
students we celebrating the end of this
event with
pizza of course and chocolate fontaine
you can see here sixth children’s
international
scientific conference and all these
letters were made by kids
now i would like to tell you something
about boundaries
what are boundaries and who makes them
when you hear the word boundaries what
comes into your mind
in my mind are borders between countries
but i would like to focus on boundaries
in our minds because they are created in
our minds
overcoming or crossing these barriers
is often connected with stress or you
can feel
anxiety but
thus familiar means what’s best
i don’t think so so in the project
polish children’s academy
we’re trying to help children to
overcoming
their barriers in plain and pleasant
fun and friendly way
here you can see one of our young
students
with head of university
and here are our the youngest
experts in polish children’s academy in
roswell
because the youngest was six and the
oldest
was eight they were talking about
dinosaurs
their knowledge was really impressive
so how do we break boundaries children
are students
they really want to learn something new
children are experts they can learn each
other
children has different
functions this is not only
academy for kids this is
children’s academy so they can be
volunteers they can be young experts and
when you’re an expert
on the other evening event you’re a host
they can be they are young students and
i am a spokesperson of this project
i know that adults can learn from kids
from kids too
but some of them has to break
their boundaries in their minds
here you can see one class on
the end of the academic year in
public children’s academy in rotsworth
and kids can be scientists you can see
here
two little girls doing some experiments
so why do we do this and what is
important for us
of course the most important for us are
kids
if they weren’t there the project
wouldn’t exist
we do that so that they could have more
experience
so that they can believe in themselves
i know many kids are struggling with it
so
we’re trying to help them just to
believe in themselves
so that science is something fun
it’s not just boring lessons in school
so that help them to continue what they
love
if there is possibility we’re trying to
help them to continue their passions
to show them that really anything
is possible
here you can see photo from connecting
with
astronauts in space i was that lucky to
be
in a group of 15 kids and we were asking
them
questions my question was what are
dreams
of astronauts in space and
what do they miss unfortunately the
connection wasn’t that great
and we lost it but i hope
that in near future i will get to answer
for that question
because anything is possible right